Noticed that there is a Calibre forum, so I posted the question there. I know it's not in etiquette to post in multiple forums; however, I do not see a delete option since I posted it here first.

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Hello,

I work with Purdue University Agricultural Communication Department and we are wanting to produce .epubs that pass Adobe's epubchecker test. Our designers are using Calibre to go from an InDesign file to the final, polished .epub because it has a GUI and they do not know HTML (or how XML works).

That's the background. The issue is that when we export the epub from Calibre, Calibre inserts the correct date and time into the meta tag <meta name="calibre:timestamp">; however, for <dc:date>, the required meta tag, it inputs <dc:date>0101-01-01...</dc:date>, which is obviously not a valid date.

They are using Macs and I have replicated the issue. I do want to note that our macs are administrated by an IT department and they have locked down the Time and Date section of the Operating System; however, Calibre still somehow grabs the correct date for their meta tag.

Any help would be appreciated in solving this problem through Calibre's user interface and not by modifying the .opf file.

Finally, the version of Calibre they are using is 0.8.

Last edited by PurdueKenny; 09-21-2011 at 01:37 PM.
Reason: Explanation of Multipost

Please keep the following pointers in mind. Adobe has no epubchecker (it should have one though), there is the opensource ePubCheck and the opensource FlightCrew.
Tell your designers to learn basic XHTML and CSS, that is really invaluable when handling ePUB's.

That said, it does belong in the Calibre subforum. You were right. I vaguely recall someone mentioning it before.

A possible solution: Open the file in Sigil and save it again. While your at it, run the validation in Sigil too. It is better than the ePubCheck.

I can't just tell an entire department to learn HTML/CSS. epubcheck was initially developed by Adobe, that's why I said Adobe. I'll check Sigil out, but that's not Calibre, which is what my problem is in. If I can keep my designers using one program without having to change, that is the solution I want.

Any help for Calibre? Thanks for the Sigil recommendation. I just saw the forum for it and was going to check it out, you pushed me over the edge.

If you are serious about e-books, then XHTML/CSS is a must. Almost all e-book formats are more or less based on it.
Perhaps the fault is in Calibre, but not necessarily. Could be the input. In any case, if you open it in Sigil and save it perhaps the error is solved. Sigil is designed to save only structurally correct ePUB. It might correct your error automatically.
Be aware, content based errors will not be solved automatically but you can use the internal validation for that. The internal validation is the same as the standalone FlightCrew.